Exploring the Clinical and Cognitive Phenotype of Child Savants with ASD

Background:  Whilst savant syndrome has traditionally been associated with intellectual disability and the negative symptoms characterizing autism spectrum disorder (ASD), recent empirical studies suggest there is very little evidence for such association.

Objectives:  To isolate clinical features and cognitive abilities that distinguish savant and non-savant children with ASD. Specifically, we tested two hypotheses: (i) are unique talents in ASD explained by the degree of symptoms’ severity in the disorder, or (ii) can they be explained by a specific profile of cognitive strengths and weaknesses?

Methods:  We tested a group of children with ASD displaying talents in the domains of mathematics, music and art, on a range of diagnostic tests and standardized measures of intellectual ability. Test profiles were then compared with those of a group of age-and IQ-matched non-savant children with ASD.

Results:  The results from our study showed that talents in ASD are positively associated with highly focused attention, superior fluid intelligence, and superior working memory. Although savants and non-savant groups did not differ on measures of social/communication deficits or on measures of obsession, savants were less impaired on measures of imagination/creativity and sensory processing than non-savants.

Conclusions:  Our results highlight and characterize cognitive strengths in talented individuals with ASD, prompting us to consider interactions between these strengths and the clinical characteristics of ASD in understanding savant syndrome.